Olympic swimmer Amini Fonua went on a Twitter rampage yesterday in reaction to a story The Daily Beast published on Olympic athletes using Grindr at the Rio games.
The story, "The Other Olympic Sport in Rio: Swiping," written by Nico Hines, garnered such a negative reaction that the piece was taken down, and The Daily Beast published an apology.
Beforehand, however, Fonua wanted to make sure his voice could be heard on behalf of all gay athletes. The out gay swimmer representing Tonga tweeted a set of angry and frustrated messages to Nico Hines and The Daily Beast, expressing the difficulty of being an out athlete, and the dangerous privilege that comes with being able to out another person.
\u201cAs an out gay athlete from a country that is still very homophobic, @thedailybeast ought to be ashamed #deplorable https://t.co/qzS9rDFJwx\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470947303
\u201c@NicoHines You fucking disgust me. Do you realize how many people's lives you just ruined without any good reason but clickbait journalism?\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470947633
\u201c@NicoHines Some of these people you just outed are my FRIENDS. With family and lives that are forever going to be affected by this\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470947726
@thedailybeast & @NicoHines don't realize this drags us gays in sports back 10 steps. You invaded both privacy & people's truth. Fuck you!!!
-- Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) August 11, 2016
\u201cImagine the one space you can feel safe, the one space you're able to be yourself, ruined by a straight person who thinks it's all a joke?\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470948520
@NicoHines & @thedailybeast 1 of the guys you just outed is only 18 years old... I was 18 once & nowhere near ready to come out, fuck you.
-- Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) August 11, 2016
\u201cNo straight person will ever know the pain of revealing your truth, to take that away is just... I can't. It literally brings me to tears \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470948964
\u201cIt is still illegal to be gay in Tonga, and while I'm strong enough to be me in front of the world, not everybody else is. Respect that.\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470949325
The Tongan swimmer also posted a racy Instagram following his tweet storm, giving The Daily Beast and Nico Hines the "hot ass" he thought they were looking for. Now that's how to end a Twitter smackdown.
